Photographs of Rusky and her best friend Matthew photographed at their home in Johannesburg
A photoshoot that involves a dog can never be anything other than fun. Rusky’s shoot was lovely. It was, however a little bittersweet because at the time I was booked to photograph Rusky, no-one was quite sure how long she had left with her family.
For the second time in her life, at age 7, Rusky had been diagnosed with bone cancer, but this time it was untreatable, so she’d been sent home with pain relief to be with her family for her last couple of months.
The portrait session included her doggy best friend Marmaduke and her favourite human, Matthew. He’d asked me to photograph them doing their favourite things together, one of which was watching Friends. Rusky had watched all ten series’, twice and loved nothing more than lying on the floor with Matthew to watch the TV.
Rusky went downhill very suddenly and was put to sleep six days after our shoot. I felt very honoured to have been able to capture these intimate portraits of her and Matthew. I think we often underestimate how much dogs add to our lives until we’re faced with their departure, so to be able to create memories like this was incredibly special.
Rusky left Matthew and the rest of the family in the very capable paws of Marmaduke who I’m sure will do his best to keep everyone feeling loved.
